Quarrying and Flooding: Why Sibelco Puts Our Homes at Risk

Quarrying Destroys Natural Flood Defences

Hydrologists are clear: floodplains and woodlands act as natural sponges. They absorb rainfall, slow runoff, and release it gradually into rivers. Sibelco has torn these defences apart by:

• Stripping floodplain woodland, replacing permeable soils with bare clay pits.

• Digging deep pits below the water table, which fill and overtop during storms.

• Channeling surface water straight into the Teign, accelerating floods downstream.

The evidence is already here. In winter 2024, Sibelco’s existing pit flooded and overflowed, wiping out the only public footpath between Teigngrace and Newton Abbot. If one pit can do that, imagine the impact of flanking the River Teign with a mile of expanded quarries.

The Hydrology Doesn’t Lie

• Peak runoff rises 20–30% when woodland is removed – meaning homes downstream face higher, faster flood peaks.

• Deep pits on floodplains have “limited capacity to safely contain extreme rainfall”, as proven by the 2024 failure.

• Groundwater levels are altered by dewatering operations, raising the risk of wet basements, blocked ditches, and compromised wells.

This isn’t speculation. Residents have documented flooded pits, rising groundwater, and repeated local inundation since Sibelco’s pits expanded upstream.

Future Flooding: A Crisis Waiting to Happen

With climate change and rising sea levels, flood risk in the Teign Valley is set to increase dramatically. Strategic Flood Risk Assessments already show parts of Kingsteignton in Flood Zone 3 (high risk). Sea-level rise will push tides further upriver, while heavier rainfall events will swamp a landscape already stripped of natural buffers.

Planning law is explicit:

• Teignbridge Local Plan Policy EN4 (Flood Risk) requires a “sequential approach” steering development away from high-risk flood zones.

• NPPF para 167 demands the “sequential and exception tests” to prevent new developments from increasing flood risk.

Quarrying right on the Teign floodplain fails both tests outright.

Sibelco’s Responsibility

For decades, Sibelco has extracted clay at industrial scale in the Bovey Basin. Every pit carved into the floodplain has degraded hydrology, increased runoff, and left communities more exposed.

Now they want to expand again, destroying even more woodland, removing more sponge-soil, and placing yet another pit beside the river. If your home floods in 10 years, will Sibelco accept responsibility? Or will residents be left with the insurance claims and the cleanup?

Campaign Levers

• Hydrology Expert Evidence: We are raising funds to commission independent hydrologists to quantify flood risk increases and present it to the Environment Agency and council.

• Environment Agency Pressure: EA guidance already warns against quarrying near watercourses. Their objection could alone block the scheme.

• Policy Breaches: Use EN4, NPPF paras 167–170, and the Devon Minerals Plan M6 to show this plan is incompatible with planning law.

• Climate Future: Rising sea levels and rainfall extremes make any quarry expansion reckless in the face of long-term flood resilience.

The Bottom Line

The River Teign is not just a river. It is the artery that keeps our valley alive – and if its floodplain is destroyed, our homes, schools, and businesses will be under water.

Sibelco is arguably partly responsible for flooding in 2024. Expanding the quarry will condemn Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot to decades of escalating flood disasters.

The council has a duty to apply the law and common sense: keep quarries out of floodplains. Protect the River Teign. Protect our homes.